


when i ran out of thread (i couldn't let go)

by staticbees



Category: Booster Gold (Comics), DCU (Comics)
Genre: Catch me getting way too attached to an iteration of Booster that only appears in one issue, M/M, The Perforated Man
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2018-07-03
Updated: 2018-07-03
Packaged: 2019-06-04 19:26:06
Rating: Not Rated
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,006
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/15153983
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/staticbees/pseuds/staticbees
Summary: The Perforated Man lands in the past, with an all-too familiar face staring back at him.





	when i ran out of thread (i couldn't let go)

**Author's Note:**

> The Perforated Man is an iteration of Booster Gold from Issue #42 of Booster Gold (2007).

_“–more.”_

 

Ted Kord blinks, and suddenly there’s a man standing there, looking back at him. He’s wearing black armor with gold highlights, like some sort of power conductors, and his face is partially masked by bars across his helmet. He flinches back when he sees the second Blue Beetle, looking startled.

 

Ted takes a step back, hand reaching for his Beetle Gun. It might not do much against a high tech suit like what the man is wearing, but at least he can look vaguely more threatening than he usually does.

 

“Ted?” the man breathes, eyes lighting up, a bright smile spreading across his face. His voice sounds oddly familiar. “Ted Kord? I haven’t seen you in so long.” He rushes forward, looking ecstatic, but stops just short of a hug, arms dropping to his sides. “No,” he mutters under his breath, looking placated, “I can’t risk it. Can’t risk taking him with me when I go. Need to keep him safe.”

 

“Who...” Ted freezes, finally placing the voice in his mind. “Booster?” he asks incredulously.

 

The man gives him a blinding grin. “The one and only!” he says cheerfully.

 

Ted isn’t quite sure what there is to be cheerful about. There are wrinkles carved deep into future Booster’s face, and there’s a desperate, distant, half-crazed look in his eyes, like he’s been through hell and back but this world isn’t any better. Ted saw his own Booster just last week, and the difference is starkly obvious.

 

Booster starts to speak again, but stops, brow furrowing, reconsidering his earlier answer. “Wait. No. That’s not right. There’s two of me. In the prison.”

 

“The _prison_?” Ted asks incredulously. “What’re you talking about?”

 

The future Booster Gold opens his mouth to answer, but instead collapses to the floor, eyes rolling up into his head.

 

For the first time, Ted notices the raised red lumps and rashes scattered across his skin, the sweat pouring down his face, the fact that his head is almost completely bald.

 

He lifts Booster up with gloved hands, careful not to touch him with his bare skin, and hoists him into the Bug.

 

He’s dealt with enough future versions of Booster to know how the drill works; don’t let anyone see, don’t let anything slip to current Booster, and don’t let Booster tell you _anything_ about the future _._ This, though… he’s never had to deal with _this_ before.

 

“Booster, old buddy,” he sighs, “what _happened_ to you?”

 

+

 

Ted finishes carefully detaching the rest of Booster’s suit. It’s designed to prevent him from falling apart, he realizes, to contain the chronal anomalies and avoid passing on whatever disease he’s been afflicted with.

 

There are swirling gaps in his skin, places where miniature wormholes have torn his flesh apart. They’re radiating massive amounts of chronal energy, disrupting the Bug’s scanners. Ted knows something has to be done, or future Booster will be ripped apart from the inside.

 

That’s the thing, though; Ted doesn’t know what to do, exactly. He can’t find any mention of a disease with these exact symptoms in any files he has access to, or any ones he doesn’t. It’s like it doesn’t even exist. Or like this is the first recorded case.

 

 _Dammit_. He knew he should’ve called in Bats.

 

Booster’s forehead is burning, even through the gloves, but he’s shivering like Ice just blasted him with, well… ice.

 

Ted winces sympathetically. Must feel like one _hell_ of a fever.

 

“Ughh…” Booster raises his head weakly from the makeshift hospital bed, wincing as he does so. “Hurts to move… hurts to… breathe,” he groans. “Don’t feel so good… might… hurl.”

 

Ted unceremoniously hands him a bucket, and he retches into it, white-knuckled, shaking hands gripping the edges like his life depends on it.

 

“What…” Ted leaves the question unfinished.

 

“Chronal leprosy,” he says hoarsely. “Symptoms include migraines, lightheadedness, and spontaneous, unpredictable time travel every nanosecond.” He cracks a shaky grin. “Guess that last one isn’t so common.”

 

“How long have you…?” Ted begins, trailing off when he sees Booster’s face.

 

“Linearly? Only six years. To _me_? Believe me. You don’t want to know.”

 

“If you tell me about the future, I can help you. I can stop this from ever happening,” Ted says, almost desperately.

 

Booster suddenly looks uncomfortable. “No. You can’t.”

 

“Why not?” he demands.

 

Booster hesitates. “It’s going to happen no matter what,” he says finally. “Fixed point in time. Can’t be changed.”  

 

“Oh.” Ted pauses. “Are you still going by Booster Gold?” he asks. “Y’know, in the future.”

 

“Nah.” He snorts. “I’ve been calling myself the Perforated Man.” A pause. “But being called Booster feels… nice. Thank you.”

 

+

 

Burning reds and orange paint the sky like watercolors, staining the ocean below a shimmering gold. The summer night air is comfortably warm, and Ted and Booster are sitting on a hill overlooking the water, drinking beer.

 

Booster’s wearing his suit, black fabric gleaming in the fiery light. It helps keep him together, lessens the symptoms. He’s leaning back on his hands, more visibly happy and relaxed than he’s been in months.

 

He’s still suffering from chronal leprosy, still has migraines and nausea and everything else that comes with it, but it’s easier to ignore when Ted is sitting next to him, alive and well.

 

He hadn’t realized how much he’d missed this.

 

All of this.

 

Ted mocking him for some inane thing he did, eyes crinkling up at the edges with laughter, scoffing as Booster retorts _well at least I don’t dress up like a bug and go around punching people_ , taking a sip of his lukewarm beer and watching the sky turn red as Guy’s face when they replaced everything on his bookshelf with copies of Inside Coast City: The Greatest Green Lantern.

 

Booster can’t believe he’d forgotten what being _happy_ was like.

 

He knows he’s going to have to go back, eventually. Going to have to confront his younger self. To start the cycle all over again.

 

But for now, for once, he’s going to enjoy the present.

**Author's Note:**

> _“Ah, that was good. Peace. Quiet. It felt like… it could’ve gone on–”_


End file.
